Crop-dusting helicopter pilot hurt in ND crash

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) — The North Dakota Highway Patrol and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the crash of a crop-dusting helicopter in northeast North Dakota.

The pilot was taken to a Grand Forks hospital after his helicopter crashed around 8 Sunday morning about three miles south of Arvilla.

The patrol says 49-year-old Jesse Morten of Larimore, N.D., had been dusting a potato field with chemicals.

He told officers that his helicopter then developed a mechanical problem. The aircraft crashed into a bean field about 200 yards from a rural road in Grand Forks County.

Morten was taken to Altru Hospital. A nursing supervisor said he was in stable condition on Monday evening.

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